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Church & State

Judicial Tyranny Is Greater Concern Than Terrorism, Says Roy Moore

Ousted Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore told a Washington, D.C., audience Jan. 22 that judicial tyranny, not terrorism, is the most important issue facing the United States today.

“The real issue in this country is not terrorism, it’s tyranny,” Moore said. “Tyranny is putting ourselves above God, and our federal courts and the U.S. Supreme Court have done exactly that.”

Moore was in town to address a “First Ladies Inaugural Tea,” an event sponsored by Religious Right activists that was not connected to the official inaugural events taking place in the nation’s capital. Event sponsors invited First Lady Laura Bush to attend, but she declined.

Moore was removed from the Alabama high court after he defied a federal court order to remove a two-and-a-half-ton Ten Commandments monument he had put on display in the rotunda of the Judicial Building in Montgomery. Since then, he has made his living traveling the nation speaking to Religious Right groups.

At the tea, Moore offered mostly his standard fare and complained that court rulings against him denied him the right to acknowledge God.

“So I can’t say who God is? That’s ridiculous,” Moore said.

According to the Birmingham News, Moore discussed two cases pending before the U.S. Supreme Court that deal with Ten Commandments displays at government buildings. The rulings could boost his cause or be “devastating” to it, he said.

Moore noted that one of the cases deals with displaying the Ten Commandments in an historical context alongside other documents. Moore said this is worse than not displaying the commandments at all, since it “denies the sovereignty of God.”

Lately, the ex-justice has dropped hints that he will run for governor of Alabama in 2006. During the tea, Moore refused to comment on whether he will run, saying only he will decide by June.

In other news about Moore:

• Roy Moore is no longer on the Alabama court, but he now has an ideological ally there. Tom Parker, who served as Moore’s spokesman during the Ten Commandments flap, was elected to the state high court in November and sworn in Jan. 14.

Moore administered the oath of office to Parker, calling him a man with “faith and character” who is “well skilled in the law,” reported the Associated Press. (The Moore action was unofficial; the real swearing-in was done by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas a few days earlier.)

“Tom will carry on this tradition and make you proud,” Moore said.

Parker made it clear that his views mirror Moore’s.

“The very God of the Holy Scripture is the source of law, life and liberty,” he said.